BOWLERS' BREAKTHROUGH

Singapore men clinch historic team title at Asian c'ships after 42-year drought in event

- Lin Tianbao

Following their mantra religiously, the Singapore men's team “stuck to their process” while competing at the Asian Tenpin Bowling Championships in Bangkok.

What the sextet - Darren Ong, Jaris Goh, Joel Tan, Mike Ong, Jomond Chia and Nu'man Syahmi - did not realise after completing the second block of games on Sept 23 was that they had done enough to be crowned champions.

When the final scores at the Blu-O Rhythm & Bowl showed that they had maintained their lead from the previous day with 6,449 pinfalls, finishing narrowly ahead of Malaysia (6,423), there were no more processes to stick to.

Instead, tears flowed freely upon realising that they had created history by becoming the first Singapore men's team to win the event since 1982.

Darren, the 2023 singles world champion, told The Straits Times: “We weren't aware of the scores from the other teams so when we found out we have managed to stay ahead, everyone was just overjoyed with the results.

“We kept being focused till the last shot was thrown and made the best decisions for (ourselves) throughout the entire block.”